Estonia’s largest utility and the world’s largest user of oil shale, Eesti Energia, recently contracted Outotec to engineer, supply, and construct key sections for a new oil shale processing plant to be built in Narva in eastern Estonia.

The two companies have also set up a joint venture to market new-generation shale oil production technology. This new technology has the potential to open up major new opportunities for exploiting the world’s oil shale resources – in the US, Brazil, China, Jordan, Russia, and Estonia – which exceed conventional oil reserves many times over, according to the two companies.

The new technology significantly improves the existing solid heat carrier process used for the extraction of oil from oil shale and other hydrocarbons. The new sustainable process, known as Enefit, utilises the latest fluidised bed technology and offers enhanced energy efficiency, while complying with the European Union's latest environmental regulations.

The plant will process over 2.2 million tonnes of oil shale annually and produce some 290,000 t/a of oil. The spent oil shale from pyrolysis will be combusted in a circulating fluidised bed reactor. Combustion energy will be utilised to dry and heat oil shale input and produce steam for an integrated 35 MW steam turbine.

Construction of the plant will start this year and it is due to be commissioned in early 2012.

Oil shale is used extensively by Eesti Energia to generate electricity and district heat. The company’s main power plants include two advanced circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler islands designed and supplied by Finnish-based Foster Wheeler Energia.
Photo courtesy of Eesti Energia.